Zuckerberg said an extremist from Pakistan had threatened him over offensive content on Facebook

A screenshot of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook post and comment.Facebook Screenshot

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken up about the threats he faced from extremists two days after the Charlie Hebdo shooting left 12 people dead, including several prominent cartoonists of the satirical newspaper in Paris.

Reacting to the Charlie Hebdo attack, Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post that an extremist from Pakistan had threatened to have him sentenced to death after the social media company refused to ban content based on the Prophet that offended him.

"As I reflect on yesterday's attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject -- a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world," Zuckerberg wrote.

"I won't let that happen on Facebook. I'm committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence," he assured.

"Facebook has always been a place where people across the world share their views and ideas. We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world."

Zuckerberg also replied to one of the comments in which he was asked whether the content that offended the extremist was banned.

"It's not against our policies to talk about Mohammed. We did block the content in Pakistan where it was illegal, but we didn't block it in the rest of the world where it is legal," Zuckerberg replied.

Within minutes, thousands of people had 'Liked' and 'Shared' the post.

Using the popular hashtag #JeSuisCharlie, Zuckerberg extended his thoughts for the victims and everyone with 'courage to share views'.

"My thoughts are with the victims, their families, the people of France and the people all over the world who choose to share their views and ideas, even when that takes courage," he said.

Two gunmen had barged into the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, shooting dead the editor and several cartoonists, in what is deemed to be a revenge attack for the controversial cartoons the magazine had published in the past.